Great is Thy faithfulness

B19 C13 CB19 D19 E19 F218 K13 LSM5 P15 R11 T19
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“Great is Thy faithfulness,” O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.
 
“Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!”
  Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
    “Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!
2
Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
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Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
© 1923. Ren. 1951 Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL 60188
www.hopepublishing.com
All rights reserved.  Used by permission.
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Apr 21 2015
Gentrix

Nairobi, Kenya

What a faithful God we serve. Even in our deepest troubles and hopelessness, His faithfulness is our shield and rampart, our defensive wall. Oh that all may know Him.

Apr 19 2015
Amaris Igonikon

Port Harcourt, Rivers, Nigeria

Indeed the almighty God is faithful and His faithfulness endures forever. I love this song and it was sung on my wedding day. Indeed God's faithfulness is great.

Apr 12 2015
Ernest

Abuja, FCT, Nigeria

God is indeed faithful. I cannot but sing this soul-lifting hymn everyday. The song was sang on my wedding day so as to keep the memory of God's faithfulness afresh in me.

Apr 12 2015
Ssali Edgar

Kampala, Uganda

Me too, I wake humming it, it's been happening. My spirit, I guess, keeps giving witness of the message.

Apr 11 2015
Derek Peterson

Eastbourne, East Sussex, United Kingdom

It says it all — GREAT IS HIS FAITHFULNESS. When we fail and disappoint Him again and again - His faithfulness still stands.

Apr 11 2015
Olayinka Salami

Jos, Plateau, Nigeria

I woke up with this song humming in my mind with out knowing the lines. Now, it makes more meaning. Praise be the Lord!

Apr 7 2015
Esioma Kelvin

Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria

I see this in my life over and over again. Thank You Lord!

Mar 31 2015
Doug Rohl

Calgary, ABuja, Canada

I belong to a church of the Pentecostal teaching. It makes me so sad and at times angry that this last Palm Sunday morning five songs with words and melody I nor anyone else in that small congregation had ever heard were sung. My Pastor is convinced that these songs or much more likely chants put to music will draw people.

No it will not. I repeat, no it will not.

If you do not specifically sing about Jesus,by name, the blood and the cross, if you do NOT praise the Lord, then nothing spiritual will happen.

At first singing this new age stuff was to draw the young. That did not work out so well, for a very long time we have not had a new, unsaved person enter our church.

Then it was, well we will sing ONE hymn ever. I am not going to be there for what you mistakenly call worship service. And even that has passed.

This week, I am going to tell the Pastor that if we do not start to sing the songs that have drawn millions to Christ, and begin to prioritize the time honored hymns, I will not be there to sing stuff with words that do not stir my heart or anyone else. I will find a place near the building, turn on my portable cd player and listen to what I KNOW heals a troubled heart.

Mar 31 2015
Maobim

Abuja, Nigeria

This song is an everyday soul lifter for me; and I'm sure it's same for millions around the world. God bless you Mr. Bunyan Williams

Mar 16 2015
Steve Miller

Detroit, MI, United States

George Beverly Shea in "How Sweet the Sound":

At Moody Bible Institute I met the composer of this song, Mr. William Runyan. A tall, delightful gentleman in his 70's, Mr. Runyan taught piano and voice in the fine music department there.

We became good friends; it was an honor for me to spend time with Mr. Runyan and learn from him, for he was well-versed in hymnology. I was so pleased when he would call me at the radio department and say, "When you have an opportunity, come over. I'd like to play for you a new song I'm working on." He had great talent for writing inspiring music. This man's enthusiasm was incredible. He was always victorious and happy in the Lord.

Thomas Chisholm was born in a log cabin in Kentucky and wrote more than 1200 poems. In 1923, he sent the words of this hymn to Mr. Runyan. Upon reading these words, Mr. Runyan knew he had received a precious message that could touch lives around the world. He prayed that God would help him compose music that was uplifting and joyous. God answered that prayer. This hymn of praise has become a great favorite with congregations everywhere.

Cliff Barrows and I had an opportunity to meet Thomas Chisholm, at a senior care center. We found him seated on a park bench and talked with him for a little while. What a dear soul! He could have been thinking about his divinely-inspired words as he sat there under the trees: "Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with 10,000 beside!"

"O God my Father," Your love has never failed me. Through each season of my life, You have been present. Thank You for Your faithfulness.

Although we are unfaithful, God is faithful. Lamentations 3:23b says, "Great is Your faithfulness." The chorus of a well-known hymn on God's faithfulness (Hymns, #19) says, "'Great is Thy faithfulness!' 'Great is Thy faithfulness!' / Morning by morning new mercies I see; / All I have needed Thy hand has provided—/ 'Great is Thy faithfulness,' Lord, unto me!" We may understand what the Bible says and what this hymn says about God's faithfulness either in a natural way or in a spiritual way. When you sing this hymn, how do you understand the word faithfulness? If you understand God's faithfulness in a natural way, you may think that He is faithful primarily in the matter of material provisions or physical blessings. When some say that God is faithful, they mean that He is faithful to take care of their material needs. However, in 1 Corinthians 1:9 Paul says, "God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." God is faithful in this matter, but He may not be faithful to provide you a large house or a well-paying job. I would not deny the fact that God is faithful in caring for our welfare. My point is that God's faithfulness is not according to our natural understanding.

Consider the sufferings of the apostle Paul. He was called, commissioned, burdened, and sent by God, but wherever he went he had troubles. For example, as soon as he began to preach Christ, he began to suffer persecution. He even had to escape from Damascus by being lowered down the wall in a basket. Does this mean that God was not faithful to Paul? No, it means that God's faithfulness is not according to our natural understanding.

When we believed in the Lord Jesus, we might have expected to have peace and blessing. But instead we might have had many troubles and might have lost our security, our health, or our possessions. When some Christians experience such things, they may question God's faithfulness and ask why He did not prevent hardships from happening to them.

We need to realize that in allowing us to have troubles, God is faithful in His purpose to turn us from idols and bring us back to Himself. Our peace, safety, health, and possessions may become idols to us, and God is faithful to take these things away so that we may drink of Him as the fountain of living waters. If our house or our possessions become idols to us, we drink of them and not of God. God's faithfulness is a matter of dealing with these idols and causing us to drink of Him.

God is faithful in leading us into His economy, and His economy is for us to drink Christ, to eat Christ, to enjoy Christ, to absorb Christ, and to assimilate Christ that God may have His increase with us to fulfill His economy. This is God's faithfulness.

Instead of drinking of God as the fountain of living waters, Israel drank of their idols. Therefore, God used the Babylonians to deal with these idols and also to destroy Jerusalem and even the temple, which had become an idol to them. We need to see that we are not better than Israel. Anything can become an idol to us. But God is faithful in fulfilling His economy. In His faithfulness He deals with our idols that we may drink of Him. We all need to drink of God as the fountain of living waters, receiving Christ into us and assimilating Him, so that He may increase for the fulfillment of God's economy to have His expression through His counterpart.

Whereas God is faithful, we are neither faithful nor chaste but go to many other husbands. After failing God, we may receive some mercy and grace and therefore repent and weep, saying, "How pitiful I am! For a long time I have not loved the Lord very much, and I have not attended the meetings." While we are repenting and weeping, God is rejoicing. However, if we repent and weep too much, even our repentance may become an idol. We may testify in a meeting, saying that we have thoroughly repented to God. But this may be a matter of self-boasting and be a self-made idol. Therefore, after repenting, we should begin to drink of the living waters, praising God, giving thanks to Him for everything, and enjoying Him. This is what God wants. God is not interested in anything other than our enjoyment of Christ.

Jeremiah's speaking in Lamentations 3:22-26 is another pattern of prophesying: "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord." Jeremiah told us that it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. This is not foretelling but blessing, well-speaking. He told us that the mercies, the compassions, of the Lord are new every morning. We need to learn to prophesy in this way. Jeremiah told the Lord, "Great is thy faithfulness." There is a well-known hymn based upon this verse (Hymns, #19). Jeremiah also said that the Lord was his portion. It is marvelous that there was a prophet in the Old Testament who knew that the Lord was his portion. When we tell others that the Lord is our portion, we are speaking the Lord to them.

Piano Hymns

Details

Worship of the Father
His Faithfulness
Thomas Obediah Chisholm (1866-1960)
William Marion Runyan (1870-1957)
D Major
3/4
11.10.11.10. with chorus.
33332244443

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